On Tuesday, LISC LA hosted ‘The Art of Resilience,’ an exclusive networking event at Hotel Indigo in Downtown Los Angeles that served as the official kick off to the third round of LISC LA’s Asset Building for Communities of Color (ABC) program.
Attended by more than sixty community and economic development leaders, the power lunch featured a dynamic panel with past funding recipients, and an entertaining fireside chat between LISC LA’s Executive Director Nicole Williams and Inglewood actress-slash-entrepreneur, Christina Elmore.
Keeping in the spirit of the event, ABC Program Officers Sabin Kim and Diana Reyes moderated the panel with a pair of ABC alumni Rosario Calatayud-Serna (Art Space Huntington Park) and Ariell Ilunga (Carla’s Fresh Market) who shared candid stories about the challenges the business owners faced in accessing flexible capital, and how the program’s support helped them achieve significant milestones.
Supported by Wells Fargo, the ABC program offers flexible 0% interest financing and acquisition capital to help small business owners in LA County’s communities of color grow, scale, and fuel wealth creation.
Among those in attendance were several South Los Angeles entrepreneurs that LISC believes are well positioned to receive ABC funding due to their participation in an innovative educational experience called Leveraging Real Estate (LRE).
“When creating this concept, we were intentional about connecting business owners with resource partners that can help them achieve their ownership goals, while also providing opportunities for lenders to meet potential new clients,” stated Gates. “Our relationship with LISC LA and the ABC program is a perfect example of where we believe that synergy exists.”
Developed by In The Building LA’s CEO Matthew Gates and Austin Curry, Executive Director of Curry Impact Fund, LRE is a 6-week interactive program designed to empower South LA entrepreneurs with the tools and insights to harness commercial real estate as a catalyst for business growth.
“Resiliency looks like ownership” according to Williams. “This brought us back to what we really want to do in South L.A., which is to make sure that the tenants that have built their legacies here can become owners and participate in that wealth creation.”
